You Never Get to Choose Who You Love
by pinkpower
Summary: Mostly some thoughts from Manny about Emma's relationship with Damien and how she knows Sean will always be the one holding her heart. Janny and Craig mentions. Sanny friendship and Semma love. oneshot


**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.**

Manny sat in Jay's lap while they talked with Damien and Emma. The two couples were at the Dot having a splendid time with each other, all except for Manny. She kept looking at how Damien looked at Emma. He was obviously into her, and it was only a matter of time before he would fall hopelessly in love with her. This seemed to worry Manny for one main reason: the way that Emma didn't look at Damien. Yes, she liked him a lot, but her eyes were slightly emptier. She was lit up like a candle, but when she was with Sean, she would light up like a whole building on fire.

Manny knew that Emma wanted a nice, simple guy to spend her life with, and it just so happened that Damien was that guy. He was nice, sweet, caring, cute, and caring. He was Emma's dream guy, and yet, Emma did not love him. Yes, she wanted to move their relationship along quite a bit, but since Damien was a tad resistant, she was willing to take it slower. However, Emma's mind was probably picturing her and Damien at an altar, getting married. But, in reality, there was only guy that Emma would ever marry and that was Sean Cameron. Yet, Manny could tell that Emma just wanted to get over him as soon as possible. After all, the best experience comes from life.

**Flashback**

_Manny opened the front door quickly with tears streaming down her face. Her heart pounded as if it were going to explode in just seconds. She felt absolutely sick inside. She sobbed loudly, leaning against the door, crying._

"_Manny?" She heard Sean's soft, yet solemn voice call her name. He walked into the hallway of the Nelson home. He looked at her with concern. "What's wrong?"_

"_Craig isn't the one." Manny said, shaking her head from side to side. With that, Sean figured out that she had broken up with him. He took her into his arms and gave her gentle hug. "How could I be so stupid to think that he actually loved me?"_

_He released her, and firmly grasped her shoulders, looking her in the eye. "Listen, you are not stupid, Manny. Craig is."_

"_He loves Ellie and his precious coke." She told Sean. "I'm never going to find love, Sean."_

"_I'm sorry, Manny. I know what Ellie is like, and she would never purposely hurt anybody, not even you." Sean spoke soothingly, running his fingers through Manny's long, midnight black hair. "I promise you that you'll find love one day. Just give it time." He led her to the living room. "Emma is in the restroom. It's that time of the month, I think." Sean sat her on the couch and took her hands._

"_Emma is so lucky to have you, Sean. You're kind, sweet, caring, and you truly love her. I wish I could have that." Manny looked down, frowning. "I wanted to have that with Craig. Truthfully, I never loved him. I loved the person that I thought he was and the person that I thought he could be. But, little by little I saw that Craig wasn't ever going to be the guy that I always pictured myself ending up with."_

"_You wanted a fairytale guy." Sean stated. He knew Manny far too well and she knew that she wanted one of those cliché fairytale boy meets girl love stories. That was quite childish of her, but he hadn't blamed her for wanting such a thing. She was a romantic at heart and Sean also knew that though Manny wanted to love Craig, but she didn't; only the image of him in her mind. She held him on such a pedestal, and boy, did Craig take one hell of a fall. _

_Manny nodded, "Yeah, I guess I did. I wanted a knight in shining armor to sweep me of my feet and we could share our happily ever after." She sighed. "But that's not ever going to happen, is it?"_

"_No, it's not," he replied. "Manny, you loved Craig, because you wanted to. And if it's one thing I learned over the years, it's that you can't choose who you love. Do you really think if Emma had it her way, she would be with me? No, she wouldn't. Love works in cruel ways, and unfortunately, you can't just select who you love."_

_Manny silently laughed. "Have you ever loved anybody besides her?"_

_Sean smiled and nodded. "I did love Ellie once upon a time, because she was a good person. I could talk to her about anything in the world and she wouldn't judge me. The problem is that whenever I was in trouble, she'd be okay with being who I was. I did love that part, but then, Emma would always push me to be a better person. Ellie wanted me for me, but Emma pushed me to be a better person that she knew I could be. In fact, Emma made me the man I am today, and the man I still want to be."_

"_I guess love is different in ways. You loved Ellie for this and you loved Emma for that."_

"_Correction: I loved Ellie for this, and I still love Emma for that." Sean replied, grinning at Manny._

"_Sean, you and I aren't very close, so why I are you trying to make me feel better?" Manny couldn't help but ask. But, she kind of knew the answer already, she just wanted to hear him say it._

"_Because we're friends now, Manny, and friends are there for each other. I do care about you." Sean retorted. "Why? Were you expecting me to say that I'm only trying to make you feel better, because you're Emma's friend?"_

_Manny giggled, admitting, "Yes."_

_Sean chuckled, not blaming her. Had this been two years ago, he probably would make her feel better for just that reason, but since the moment Manny had warned him about not hurting Emma, he found more respect for her. She made him think about how much Emma truly needed Manny in her life to get her through, and how Manny would willing sacrifice her life for Emma's if it ever came down to it. Not to mention, Sean knew how much Manny needed real friends. Once he heard about how she had gotten back together with Craig, Sean became more protective over her like an older brother._

"_Did this talk help any?" Sean asked._

"_A little," Manny shrugged. "Thanks."_

"_Anytime."_

**Present time**

Never in a million years who Manny have ever chose Jay to be so-called knight in shining armor, and yet, here she was; crazy in love Jay and happier than ever before. Craig no longer had any affect on her. In fact, hearing that he and Ashley were slowly getting back together only made Manny wish Ashley good luck and good riddance. Maybe she could shape Craig up into the perfect man, meanwhile Manny trusted a man filled with many flaws to hold her hand as well as her heart.

Damien took hold of Emma's hand and whispered something in her ear. She giggled softly, looking at him. But, Manny saw through Emma's act easily. She saw how much Emma still was in love Sean, and how Damien was merely a distraction from those feelings. She sympathized for Damien, knowing that when Sean came back, Emma's heart would mislead her for a very longtime, but surely enough, she would come to except that she still loved Sean like Sean loved her.

Sean had been right when he sad that you never get to pick and choose who you love.


End file.
